The Shawn Michaels WrestleMania rumors pop up every year right about now, yet last year those rumors looked stronger than ever. While all of us were excited about the possibilities of seeing HBK vs. Daniel Bryan at Mania there was one guy who wasn’t thrilled with that idea…Shawn Michaels.
[adinserter block=”1″]The natural trajectory of last year’s storyline with Michaels and his former student Daniel Bryan appeared to end with a Mania match. I remember after his Hell in a Cell match several respected reporters practically reporting the match as a done deal simply off of the finish. Yet Michaels gave no indications he was coming back. This is where the wires got crossed according to Mr. WrestleMania. Michaels told my good buddy Brian Fritz on Between the Ropes that while he understood the excitement, the idea never quite appealed to him.
“Yeah, I realize that a lot of people certainly got that. I guess from my perspective it certainly is a good idea but it’s one of those ones, I guess from my standpoint, a good idea is one that would really intrigue me. That’s not one of those of those ones where you go ‘wow, what are the chances of someone coming up with that?’ That’s teacher – student, that’s been done, and again I’m not knocking it, I’m just saying that is not some kind of new, innovative idea. It’s just two other guys doing a very rehashed idea but we think they can do it well so it will be fun for us to watch. Certainly at its core it’s not a new and fresh idea.”
That is an interesting response from Michaels for a few reasons. One, why did the storyline play out as it did last year if Bryan was not going to get payback with a match? That just makes no sense in my eyes. Two, you had Michaels openly questioning Bryan in interviews which made sense if those interviews were done to build up a match and yet they weren’t. Three and maybe most pressing is why in the world did WWE book him in that storyline the way they did if there was no commitment to wrestling. This all goes back to the “masterful” (yes I am being sarcastic) the booking of Daniel Bryan in the last quarter of 2013.
Michaels was also asked about fans who want to see him back in the ring. Is there hope?
“Oh yeah. All the time. All the time. If they don’t believe, they request that I do. There isn’t a time that, every once in a while I will receive a text or someone will make the comment of ‘hey, we got this’. Put it this way: it’s always there for me if I want it. There’s only been probably, I don’t know, maybe one time where you go that’s actually a pretty good idea. (laughs) But you have to be careful even about saying that, even to acknowledge that is, in fact, a good idea. You have to be quick to follow up with don’t get me wrong, I’m not doing it. I have to give you props on a good idea.”
Fritz followed up by asking Michaels about what kind of idea would get HBK to lace up the boots. Michaels gave an intriguing response. He says no but he also doesn’t say never.
[adinserter block=”2″]”Well, I don’t even want to go down that road because then, of course, people will run with it. I at least try to do my best to throw my hat in the ring around WrestleMania so people can talk about it and I can get free press. It’s irrelevant then. Like I said, most people wouldn’t find it interesting anyway. My tastes I guess are not like theirs. When you’ve done a lot of stuff it’s sometimes those out of the box, strange ones that really peak your interest. For me, I give it about two minutes thought and then I move on because I’m very happy with what I’m doing and where my life’s at right now.”
So what in 2015 could get Michaels back in the ring? Quite frankly I would have put my money on the teacher vs. student match with Bryan. Obviously he feels differently and shut that down. I can’t think of anything that the company could propose right now that would entice him but the key here is that the man never said never and that’s a big win for all of us.
So there’s a chance?
WWE: The Destruction of the Shield
Grab discounted WWE DVDs, merchandise, t -shirts, figures, and more from the WWE Shop on Amazon.com